The Trip that Almost Didn’t Happen:
My Epic First Time Abroad
I had lived in and travelled to many places in India. Now, at age 29, I got the chance to visit a foreign country. I applied for a prestigious conference organized by the Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology, a US organization. The topic of this event on its 2019 schedule was Climate Change-Linked Stress Tolerance in Plants. It was to be held in Germany in a city called Hannover.
This journey started in a lab meeting. Our Professor usually announced opportunities. One day, he pointed at me and said, “Arpita you must apply for this conference.” That is the moment I started dreaming of going to Germany.
I wrote the abstract and was selected to give a talk on a paper for which I was the lead author titled, ‘The B-Box Containing Microprotein miP1a/BBX31 Regulates Photomorphogenesis and UV-B Protection’. My research on identifying genes that protect plants from ultraviolet light has implications for areas where atmospheric ozone depletion is compromising crops’ ability to thrive. To my surprise, I was among the three candidates who got the $1200 scholarships. I was happy and excited.
I started applying for a Schengen visa. I travelled 15 hours by train from Bhopal to Mumbai and submitted my documents. After ten to twelve days I receive a package from the Visa Application Centre. It had a letter in German and my passport. I had never seen a visa so I was confused about whether the letter was a visa, because the passport came back as it was given. I showed my friends and translated the letter. It was a rejection, saying I had no proof that I didn’t intend to settle in Germany.
I had applied a month early, so there was still time to apply again, this time with evidence that I would return to India. After waiting impatiently, a second rejection arrived. I felt helpless and did not know what to do. I had spent a lot of money on the visa applications and travel. I searched online and found how to appeal to the embassy.
With the help of a colleague, I wrote a “remonstration letter.” That was my first time to hear that term. It was all about insisting that I had no intentions to stay, and to convince the Germans how important it was for me to attend the conference. The reply came as expected in a couple of working days. It made me happy. The email was positive and it instructed me to immediately submit my passport and other documents. This time I flew to Mumbai. My very first international flight was already booked for the 11th of May 2019. With just a week to go, I had to devote my full energy and focus to getting that stamp.
But there were other things to be done. Prepare my poster and my talk, get Euros. I didn’t even have luggage. So while staying at my uncle’s place in Mumbai I created the poster and emailed it to my labmates to print. They also helped me get Euros in cash and some in a travel card.
My adrenaline was pumping when the visa arrived the day before I was to embark for Germany. With no time to relax, I flew to Indore that night and took a three-hour taxi to Bhopal where I had exactly four hours to retrieve my poster and get ready to board an early morning flight from Bhopal to Delhi. Friends helped me pack and kept me fed, but there was something creating confusion and tension in my mind. The date on the visa was the 12th of May 2019.
So it should not have been a surprise that Air India would not allow me to board the flight at Indira Gandhi International Airport. It took two hours to retrieve my passport and my bags. I was so frustrated and angry at that moment. I called my professor and told him the story. He encouraged me to book another flight and go the next day. I had just lost so much of my money on this cancelled ticket and was not sure if my bank account could cover another. But you know what, I was destined to go to Germany! My account was credited with a two-month fellowship the day before and one of my recurrent deposits matured so I had just enough to go straight to a booking counter to buy a ticket for the next day. There I was, with all my luggage. Thankfully, my friend Akanksha invited me to stay with her. She was shocked to hear about my stumbles at every step. To lift my mood, we went to a nearby mall for a little bit of shopping. Of course, her company made me even happier!
Now it was the day of my travel. Mentally prepared for everything, I boarded the flight from Delhi to reach Frankfurt. My connection arrived in Hannover just before midnight. In the confusion of the previous days, I had forgotten to get an international pack for my cell phone. It was all I could do to keep calm at that moment. Plus, I was experiencing all the mixed feelings of arriving in a new country.
It was now past midnight and I had 15 kilometers to go to reach an apartment, the owner of which had messaged me about keys kept beneath a dustbin outside. Very strange! I wanted to talk to him. I found a taxi and the driver was kind enough to call ahead. There was no option at that moment but to trust him. I was glad the driver helped me find the key and open the door instead of kidnapping me in the dark of night. So, I was there in my apartment, in Germany, finally!
Everything was so new! Extreme happiness and contentment washed over me.
Hannover was a quiet place. Green and clean everywhere. The first day of the conference was only a welcome cocktail party at Hotel Kaiserhof in the middle of the city. Most of the participants and professors had arrived. I just had a Coca Cola and some fruit. They also distributed the scholarship certificates. I left early to prepare.
Overjoyed, I girded for giving my first international talk on the third day of the conference in the Herrenhausen Palace. I drank in the first two days. I had never before participated in such high-level discourse in the field of how climate change can affect various plant species. I noticed that I was the only person from India.
On the afternoon of my talk I dressed formally and was anxious about facing so many scientists in a big auditorium with a huge screen. I steadied myself and delivered, being rewarded with several probing questions.
The conference was winding down. I felt very lucky to have been chosen as a speaker. I was even able to meet one of the scientific organizers, Prof. Julian Schroeder from UC San Diego, to convey my gratitude.
The conference ended.
With a spare day in Germany, I decided to go to Hamburg to see the second largest city of this country that almost denied me entrance. It was a two-hour bus ride and I don’t know if I could have figured it out had I not serendipitously met Ebru on my way back to my apartment from the conference one evening. A young woman like me, we are still connected through social media. She showed me how to book an e-ticket on a Flixbus.
Staring out the window, I couldn’t stop marveling at the cleanliness and smooth roads, trains, houses and whatnot. I toured Hamburg with the “hop on hop off” bus. It was nice cloudy weather so I sat on top. Hamburg combines the impressions of a wealthy, industrial city with a quaint port with stunning views of the sea and lovely parks. I took lots of pictures and had a great time shopping for souvenirs to bring back to friends and family.
Then it was time to leave.
This short international exposure was a real accomplishment, giving me confidence to move forward with my career as a scientist poised to keep adding publications about plants on a genetic level to my vita.
Even on my return, life wanted me to experience the left out stumbles. Terrific turbulence during the flight from Hannover delayed arrival causing me to almost miss the flight to Delhi. I made it, but my bag was having more of Frankfurt. It arrived after a week.
That is the story of my first international experience. Epic!
Arpita Yadav, originally from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, is currently a post-doctoral fellow in plant biology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA.
